Called the great American novel by some, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was written more than 100 years ago by Mark Twain. Huck sets out on a raft journey down the Mississippi River, accompanied by a runaway slave named Jim. By creating Jim as a compassionate character, Twain added a valuable and subtle antiracist argument to the national dialogue going on at the time. For this reason and others, Huckleberry Finn was considered highly controversial when it was published in 1885. Illuminated with excerpts from the novel as well as primary source images, this book details the life and times of Twain and the events that inspired him to create his masterpiece.